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re: If the travel baller in your life has a birthday coming up
Posted on 3/19/24 at 10:25 pm to lsu777
Posted on 3/19/24 at 10:25 pm to lsu777
"Travel" ball parent here. I'll echo the statements of a few here who are actually in it... there really isn't much travel. At least 90% of tournaments are played within an hour of home. And there is no expectation to be playing all year round either. Softball definitely plays more than baseball though in my experience.
My kids are a little older than some posters here so maybe I can give some further insight. I have a junior baseball player who is 17 and will play 17u on his summer team and a freshman softball player who is 14 and plays 16u travel.
You absolutely DO NOT have to play on a Majors or AAA team at 12u to play a major role on your HS team. Neither of my kids have ever been on a team above AA (B level in softball) and we are at a 6A "blue blood" baseball school in Oklahoma. My son played a small varsity role as a soph and is the starting catcher as a junior. My daughter started every game her freshman year (HS softball is in the fall in OK) between catcher and CF.
The most important thing for parents to look for in a travel team is the team plays against good competition, and has coaches who can actually develop your player. It does not matter whether that is at the Majors, AAA, or AA level.
This is just patently false. Yes, kids work out more than ever before but puberty is still the big equalizer. There are so many 12u beasts (both baseball and softball) that my kids played with and against that are nowhere to be found. It doesn't matter how much Majors ball you played if you're 5'6 140 lbs as an upperclassman.
My kids are a little older than some posters here so maybe I can give some further insight. I have a junior baseball player who is 17 and will play 17u on his summer team and a freshman softball player who is 14 and plays 16u travel.
You absolutely DO NOT have to play on a Majors or AAA team at 12u to play a major role on your HS team. Neither of my kids have ever been on a team above AA (B level in softball) and we are at a 6A "blue blood" baseball school in Oklahoma. My son played a small varsity role as a soph and is the starting catcher as a junior. My daughter started every game her freshman year (HS softball is in the fall in OK) between catcher and CF.
The most important thing for parents to look for in a travel team is the team plays against good competition, and has coaches who can actually develop your player. It does not matter whether that is at the Majors, AAA, or AA level.
quote:
puberty...so you mean strength and size? do you think they kids that are on the high level teams are not lifting? Do you think they are not following diets to gain weight too? do you think they arent on bat speed and velo programs?
puberty was a much bigger deal before everyone started weight training. the biggest difference maker now is if the kid is willing to work with how much he is eating, sleeping and if he is will to work his arse off in the off season. the kids at the biggest and best programs all do this.
This is just patently false. Yes, kids work out more than ever before but puberty is still the big equalizer. There are so many 12u beasts (both baseball and softball) that my kids played with and against that are nowhere to be found. It doesn't matter how much Majors ball you played if you're 5'6 140 lbs as an upperclassman.
This post was edited on 3/19/24 at 10:34 pm
1
Posted on 3/19/24 at 10:33 pm to Areddishfish
I will be starting a thread on travelball most likely sometime tomorrow or later this week.
I’ll be revealing the truth about travelball and discussing where the stereotypes originated from and why “travelball” has morphed into somewhat of an embarrassing unfortunate thing to be apart of
Coming straight from an OG travelball player
I’ll be revealing the truth about travelball and discussing where the stereotypes originated from and why “travelball” has morphed into somewhat of an embarrassing unfortunate thing to be apart of
Coming straight from an OG travelball player
Posted on 3/20/24 at 6:26 am to Areddishfish
Another travel ball thread always is entertaining.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 6:39 am to Areddishfish
We are in the middle of travel basketball hell. It is fun and it is cool to see my kid get so much better as a junior high player. Let’s face it in Texas your junior high basketball coaches are not the cream of the crop. They are football coaches angry and paying their dues until they get a varsity football gig. The best you can hope for is a wannabe varsity basketball coach. Because if they are any good and show ability there is an assistant spot for them in high school.
And yes he has ONE chain that he wears. Bought it himself. One chain limit in our household.
It is pricey but somewhat worth it in that it gets him off the damn PS5 for a few hours.
Other than that I have zero justification. Because genetics suggests he will have at best a 6’1” frame. With my shoulders but my feet, which do not a 2-guard make. Lol
And yes he has ONE chain that he wears. Bought it himself. One chain limit in our household.
It is pricey but somewhat worth it in that it gets him off the damn PS5 for a few hours.
Other than that I have zero justification. Because genetics suggests he will have at best a 6’1” frame. With my shoulders but my feet, which do not a 2-guard make. Lol
Posted on 3/20/24 at 6:49 am to Areddishfish
I will say the men on this website sure do spend a lot of energy hating on travel ball. 
My son is still in coaches pitch, but if he is good enough and wants to play I don't see why we wouldn't let him.
I'm pushing for track though. My family (myself excluded) are state champion record holders in that sport. It seems to get less hate and have cooler parents.
My son is still in coaches pitch, but if he is good enough and wants to play I don't see why we wouldn't let him.
I'm pushing for track though. My family (myself excluded) are state champion record holders in that sport. It seems to get less hate and have cooler parents.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 6:55 am to HoustonChick86
Track meets are seriously boring. My son ran the 400 and the 4x400 and for some reason one was early in the meet and one was last. He was very fast, but quit after a couple of seasons.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 6:57 am to Gaston
I'm a weirdo I guess. I love watching track meets.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 6:58 am to OweO
quote:
My bad that was HS, but here is little league ball right here in which a coach was hurting the kids from the opposite team while shaking hands after the game.
Youtube
A parent knocks out an umpire.
Youtube
This one has been posted before, as well as many others, but its an assistant coach fighting a fan.
Youtube
Culture
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:00 am to SouthboundTiger
quote:
And lastly he's 6, so talk your shite, but I guarantee you he knows how to outwork the keyboard cowboys on this site.
Before or after snack and nap time?
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:05 am to HoustonChick86
Oh I meant boring for him, and they really pushed the relays since they were worth more points. He got 4 races a meet, but the 400 was his only individual.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:18 am to lsu777
quote:
around here hardly any teams play more than 1 or max 2 fall ball tournaments.
Canes
Lugnuts
Pelicans
Knights
Ascension elite
All played 4-5 fall tournaments. I heard that the Pelicans are doing 12-14 tournaments this spring.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:34 am to Oilfieldbiology
quote:
All played 4-5 fall tournaments. I heard that the Pelicans are doing 12-14 tournaments this spring.
pelicans does not. they play 1-2 max. their young kids dont even play fall half the time.
i just looked it up, pelicans did not play at all in fall, atleast trey and tanna team. maybe some scrimmages but no tournaments in pg, 2d or usssa. neither did their two 10u teams. as far as 12 tournaments in spring...pretty normal. thats less than 1-2 in feb. 3 in march, 3 in april, 3 in may, 1-2 in june.
canes...you know what you are getting into but in normal canes does not play fall ball. ask anyone that plays with them. in fact they have to register as another team to do so usually. some of them play 1 tournament at traction, thats it. the really good 11u team registered as boot baseball for the fall tournament they played.
ascension elite and lugnuts are low level orgs. of course they will do stupid stuff.
gonna have to be more specific on knights...there are tons of orgs under the main org.
its all easy to go check, so no reason to beleive BS you are just told.
and pelicans may do 14 tournaments...depending on if they are going to a big tournament out of town and when. last year they were in pigeon forge with us and that was later july so some teams did play extra tournaments to keep sharp. but in general they are just like everyone else feb-june. for the record tanna and trey run prolly the best org in the state. if you are going to talk shite about travel bal....they are not the ones to be critiquing as they do it the right way. I have the upmost respect for the way they do things.
you also realize they have had pretty much exact same teams since they were little right, like 5/6 little. so the parents know exactly what they are getting into, no surprises.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:37 am to RoscoeHarper
quote:
"Travel" ball parent here. I'll echo the statements of a few here who are actually in it... there really isn't much travel. At least 90% of tournaments are played within an hour of home. And there is no expectation to be playing all year round either. Softball definitely plays more than baseball though in my experience.
My kids are a little older than some posters here so maybe I can give some further insight. I have a junior baseball player who is 17 and will play 17u on his summer team and a freshman softball player who is 14 and plays 16u travel.
You absolutely DO NOT have to play on a Majors or AAA team at 12u to play a major role on your HS team. Neither of my kids have ever been on a team above AA (B level in softball) and we are at a 6A "blue blood" baseball school in Oklahoma. My son played a small varsity role as a soph and is the starting catcher as a junior. My daughter started every game her freshman year (HS softball is in the fall in OK) between catcher and CF.
The most important thing for parents to look for in a travel team is the team plays against good competition, and has coaches who can actually develop your player. It does not matter whether that is at the Majors, AAA, or AA level.
you are in oklahoma, we are in LA and i was speaking of LA. and no you dont have to be on a majors team to make a HS team but if you want to make a team like Barbe and actually play...you better be playing against the best in the state.
quote:
This is just patently false. Yes, kids work out more than ever before but puberty is still the big equalizer. There are so many 12u beasts (both baseball and softball) that my kids played with and against that are nowhere to be found. It doesn't matter how much Majors ball you played if you're 5'6 140 lbs as an upperclassman.
a kid that is dedicated wont be 5'6" 140, they will be 5'6-175. and yea plenty of 12u beast that burn out or realize...hey i have to work as hard or harder than others to stay the best..and they dont want to do that. See lots of 12u beast that do not want to work...thats fine but the game weeds them out pretty quickly.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:51 am to lsu777
quote:
you are in oklahoma, we are in LA and i was speaking of LA. and no you dont have to be on a majors team to make a HS team but if you want to make a team like Barbe and actually play...you better be playing against the best in the state
Yeah I'm aware you're in LA and we're in OK. The top level of HS baseball I would think are pretty similar between the two states. As I mentioned, my kid is at one of the top programs in the largest classification in OK and is a starter at a premium position. Never played on a team above AA. Key is he was with good developmental coaches and he played against good competition.
Just making the point that a really good number of the boys you're seeing at 12u "grinding" and "doing the work" won't be 3 years later. And there are some outside of that group that will. Puberty is a huge thing and so is mental maturity and kids develop at different ages.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:53 am to Areddishfish
If you wear a "chain," you are a trash POS
Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:57 am to lsu777
quote:
a kid that is dedicated wont be 5'6" 140, they will be 5'6-175. and yea plenty of 12u beast that burn out or realize...hey i have to work as hard or harder than others to stay the best..and they dont want to do that. See lots of 12u beast that do not want to work...thats fine but the game weeds them out pretty quickly.
I’ve said it many times most these kids will be done by 9th grade . Parents will be full of excuses so will the kid . You’ll have a handful that start at varsity within the 4 years . A couple will play juco . Even less play D-1 . Pro baseball get real . I’m sure you might have seen one but it’s not your kid
Posted on 3/20/24 at 8:00 am to RogerTheShrubber
quote:
Most is spent in the dugout seeing who can spit seeds the farthest, actually.
Except when 9 players are on the field, 2 are in the bullpen and the other 2 are in the dugout chattering at the batter?
Posted on 3/20/24 at 8:07 am to Tha crook
quote:
Parents will be full of excuses so will the kid .
Or they go on to high school and find the level of play uninspiring…or the coach changes their position that takes away what they loved about the sport. Many, many ways kids quit.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 8:08 am to TejasHorn
quote:
The Houston and D/FW areas each have close to 8 million people in the greater regions now. There are way more teams than enough to play locally without driving to Birmingham or wherever for some money grab tournament.
New Orleans metro has 1.2 million. That’s plenty of kids if you let the poors and the blacks play by just running everything through playgrounds.
But I get it. Those kids aren’t in it to win it and the fields you have to sometimes play on suck.
Posted on 3/20/24 at 8:12 am to Gaston
quote:
Or they go on to high school and find the level of play uninspiring…or the coach changes their position that takes away what they loved about the sport. Many, many ways kids quit.
These are excuses
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